In the second Sadbhavana Rally, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday avowed to preserve peace, communal harmony, amity and brotherhood in the State saying these were the basic ingredients of development, progress and prosperity.
He said that at this crucial juncture the political parties should join their hands and shun “dirty politicking” to foil the attempts of divisive forces to push the State back into the black days of militancy.
Giving a word of advice to the newly appointed Chief of Punjab Congress Capt Amarinder Singh, the Chief Minister said that it was the high time that the lok Sabha MP from Amritsar should shun the politics of confrontation and adopt the politics of consensus.
Taking on the Congress, the Chief Minister said that this party has done lot of injustice with the State by depriving of its capital, legitimate share in river waters and Punjabi speaking areas. He said that the Congress had inflicted a deep wound on Sikh psyche by attacking the Sri Harmandir Sahib and by killing thousands of innocent Sikhs during 1984 Sikh carnage.
The Chief Minister said that the Congress was again trying to bring the troublesome periods back in the State by hobnobbing with the radical elements and pursuing its age old policy of “divide and rule”.
Earlier addressing the gathering, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal said the SAD-BJP alliance led by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal alone had always stood for development in Punjab while the Congress has always followed a policy of divide and rule and vendetta politics which had never benefitted the State.
He said the Congress, especially the Gandhi family, was sworn enemy of Sikhs as it was responsible for attacking Sri Akal Takht Sahib as well as the 1984 Sikh genocide. He informed that presently the scion of this anti-Punjab and anti-Sikh family. Rahul Gandhi was hell bent upon fanning the fires of religious communalism in the State.
Taking a dig at the AAP, Badal called it a “topiwali Party” and said that the party which has ruined Delhi, is now training its guns on Punjab.
BJP Secretary Tarun Chugh questioned the silence of Congress over the presence over party leaders in the congregation near Amritsar where the conspiracy to malign Sikh institutions and throw back Punjab again in black days was hatched.
He said that the dynamic combination of duo with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at centre and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at the state has proved to be a boon for Punjab to further touch new heights of progress and prosperity.